A multinational team has been looking for Flight 370 since Saturday after it disappeared en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.

Shares in the firm recovered some of the early fall, but are already down more than 33% for the year.

Malaysia Airlines has been struggling as low cost carriers have increased competition in the region.

A planned share swap with budget airline Air Asia was called off in 2012, after pressure from Malaysia Airline's unions forced the firm to scrap the proposal.

In 2013, Malaysian Airline System, the firm that operates Malaysia Airlines, reported a loss of 1.17bn ringgit ($360m) compared with a 432m ringgit loss in 2012, BBC reported.